Despite their best efforts to test their products, software companies typically have to fix a lot of problems that are only discovered once their stuff gets released publicly into the wild world. If they want us to continue to buy their software, they have to fix those problems for us.

A hotfix is a relatively small update released by a software vendor that addresses one or more issues in a specific application.

It’s not just a fix. It’s a “hot” fix because there is some urgency involved. This means that it may not be fully tested. It is generally smaller and more quickly developed than a service pack or a patch. If there is no service pack, patch or workaround to resolve a problem, the vendor tries to fix it quickly by developing a hotfix. A hotfix could even be released to address issues caused by a recent service pack.

Service packs and patches each have their own unique features that differentiate them from hotfixes. Make sure you know the difference.